DATE=9/13/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / ISLAM (L-O)
NUMBER=2-266448
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Turkish court has issued an arrest warrant
for the country's first Islamic prime minister,
Necmettin Erbakan, on charges of inciting ethnic and
religious hatred. But as Amberin Zaman reports from
Ankara, the prosecution agreed to postpone the arrest.
TEXT: Hours after the warrant was issued, a state
prosecutor agreed to a request from Mr. Erbakan's
lawyers that his imprisonment be delayed because of
their client's advanced age.
In July, an appeals court upheld a year's prison
sentence against the 74-year-old politician because of
a speech he made several years ago in the largely
Kurdish province of Bingol.
Mr. Erbakan, the founder of Turkey's Islamic movement,
was charged with seeking to incite religious enmity by
criticizing the fact that Turkish students begin their
school day by reciting nationalist slogans rather than
verses from the Koran.
The court case is the latest in a string of setbacks
suffered by Mr. Erbakan. He was elected Turkey's
first Islamic prime minister in 1996. But he was
forced to step down only a year after taking office
because of charges that his government was seeking to
impose religious rule.
Mr. Erbakan was barred from politics for five-years
and his party, Welfare, was banned on similar charges.
Turkey's powerful armed forces are at the forefront of
the effort to crack down on Islamic radicalism, which
army leaders describe as the number-one threat facing
Turkey.
Many analysts disagree. They say, if anything, the
political influence of Islam is steadily waning in
Turkey. Virtue, the party under which the Islamists
regrouped after Mr. Erbakan's ouster, came in third in
the most recent parliamentary elections (1999).
Although the Islamists constitute the largest
opposition group within the parliament, they have
failed so far to mount any effective challenges to
Turkey's coalition government.
/// REST OPT /// The Virtue Party is facing charges
that it is no more than a continuation of its
predecessor, Welfare.
Turkey's chief prosecutor, Vural Savas, who initiated
the closure case, has described the party as a -
malignant tumor - and its members as - bloodsucking
vampires. A verdict in the closure case is expected
next month.
Western diplomats say banning Virtue would further
reduce Turkey's chances of beginning membership talks
with the European Union. E-U officials are currently
putting the final touches on a document setting out
the conditions Turkey needs to fulfill before it can
begin membership negotiations. They include removing
articles in the Turkish penal code and constitution
that greatly limit free speech. (SIGNED)
NEB/AZ/KL/RAE
13-Sep-2000 12:24 PM EDT (13-Sep-2000 1624 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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